Recently we have received several emails and comments from English-speaking parents who are serious about giving their children the gift of another language. We count ourselves among the lucky that are able to speak a second language at home and almost innately pass it on to our kids. Even so, we know it’s hard work. So, you have no idea how much we respect parents that are making a conscious effort (because it is one) to work hard at creating language-learning opportunities from the get go.

Today Simona Montanari gives some excellent advice on this topic. She’s an expert on early multilingual development and Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies at California State University in Los Angeles. You can learn more about her here and read her previous inspiring answers to our reader’s questions here.

We Don’t Speak Spanish but We Want Our Child to Learn

Today’s question was sent by Jasmine Caruthers. She’s pregnant with her first child and, both she and her husband know they want their child to learn Spanish even if they don’t speak it themselves.

“I am pregnant with my first child and both my husband and I speak English. However, I would like to raise my child to speak both English and Spanish. I was going to send my baby to a bilingual speaking school but I am having trouble locating any in Alabama. I really do not know how to go about doing this but it is important for my child to be bilingual. Do you have any advice on how to raise a child from an English speaking home, to speak Spanish? Thank you much.”

Dear Jasmine,

First of all, I think it’s great that you are so “enlightened” and convinced to raise your child bilingually even if both you and your partner are monolingual. There are a lot of people in the US who do speak two languages themselves, but are afraid of teaching them to their children for fear that they will lag behind in English or not learn it as well as other monolingual children. So, again, it’s great that you understand what a great gift it is to give your child two languages and see him grow bilingually.

The fact that neither you nor your husband speak Spanish makes your wish a bit more difficult to realize because you will truly have to rely on someone else for providing that extra language for your child. But I believe that your motivation and encouragement will make it possible.

I think the best way to go is to try to hire someone – a Spanish-speaking person – to spend time with your child in the early years (ideally birth to five and beyond). I am not sure how realistic this is for you but if you work and can afford a nanny/au pair, this would be the most successful strategy that I can think of. Be specific when you hire this person that you want him/her to speak Spanish to your child and not English. Barbara Zurer Pearson’s book “Raising a Bilingual Child” warns that many nannies end up using English with the children they watch, both because they want to practice English or because the child might speak English to them. You might want to be very firm and explain to your nanny that you are specifically hiring her/him to teach Spanish to your child, and so that no English should be used.

I used this strategy myself. When my first daughter was one and a half and my youngest was a newborn I hired a Spanish-speaking nanny to work for us for 36 hours a week. I was lucky because this woman spoke no English or Italian (which I speak to my daughters), so my daughters soon learned that they had to interact in Spanish with her. Today, at 5 and 3 and a half, my youngest daughter is pretty fluent in the language and the oldest speaks Spanish almost natively! In addition, they speak English (which they are picking up from dad and school) and Italian. It is truly amazing to see these little people move so easily back and forth between languages! And, for Spanish, I owe it all to my nanny. The new challenge will be for me to maintain Spanish-speaking opportunities for my daughters as they grow. But the nanny definitely planted the seeds.

If the nanny is out of the question, then you will have to rely on schooling. You should look everywhere in your area (as far as you are willing to commute) to find a bilingual daycare, preschool or school. Unfortunately, these are hard to find, but if you are willing to commute a bit you might increase your chances of finding one (I myself will start driving 26 miles a day this September to bring my oldest daughter to an Italian-English dual language school).

Finally, if even the school option is out, then you might have to scale down your dream of raising your child bilingually, although you can still help him/her learn some Spanish. You can do this by participating in Spanish mommy-and-me classes, by playing Spanish music and videos, perhaps by participating in Spanish-language play groups, etc. These activities won’t make your child bilingual but they might introduce him to the language, and therefore help him learn it later when new opportunities (i.e. Spanish language classes, Spanish-language programs) arise.

I wish all the best to you, your baby and your intent to raise him/her bilingually.

Simona Montanari, Ph.D., is located in the Los Angeles area. For more information or to schedule a phone/in person consultation contact her at smontan2@calstatela.edu.

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All fantastic suggestions! If bilingual education doesn’t become a do-able/convenient option down the road, push for quality FLES programs in the local schools–30 minutes/day can do wonders for school-aged children! (That’s what I’ve done as a teaching gig in the past.) And older kids can also gain a lot from immersion summer camps such as Concordia Language Villages. Even though I am not raising my kids in a bilingual home, I try to provide tons of exposure–friends, playdates, CD’s, etc. (French & Spanish & a teeny bit of Mandarin.) I want to create positive early experiences & lay the foundation for a love of languages & cultures.

Until you’re able to hire the nanny or drive to a dual-language school, there’s plenty you can do right at home to create a bilingual environment for your baby. Like mentioned above, watch Spanish kid shows and dvd’s; play Spanish kid-friendly music cd’s; read bilingual books to your baby; label things in your house; and play with your baby by naming body parts, foods and colors in English and in Spanish. Equally important is work on your own Spanish learning. You will learn a lot of Spanish yourself from the kid shows and books. Use what you learn with your baby. I could go on and on.
I’m so excited for you and your family. My husband and I are monolingual who desire our children to be bilingual as well. Because of the Spanish environment we created and exposed them to, they are well on their way to becoming bilingual. ¡Buena suerte!

Jasmine, it wasn’t Alabama, it was Southern Ohio, but I got myself started in Spanish without many native speakers around, and without classes. If there is a will, there really is a way. Myself, I got “Spanish 101″ textbooks from the library, posted sticky notes all over the house (pronouncing the words out loud every time I saw them), made up little songs that I sang to myself over & over, and wrote out sentences in little notebooks that when I did come across a Spanish speaker I asked them to correct for me. The only things I spent money on at first were a good-quality dictionary and a little book of verb conjugations. Later I did take classes for several weeks and I really got my money’s worth out of it with all the questions I had for the teacher! Jasmine you could get a really good start that way, your child would have something very special that you share, and would learn right along side you. Eventually, to really learn a language there has to be something interactive, meaning you have to get some real-live experiences listening and speaking. But you can lay a lot of ground work at home. You might take a 2-week vacation in Costa Rica and find your child is really speaking Spanish!

We live in the middle of nowhere, so I drive forty-five minutes each way once a week to take my older two sons to a teacher from Argentina (we speak Spanish at home on a regular basis, too, but I’m not a native speaker so I think this is important for them). We also spend time in the summer at a Spanish camp/school in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It improves my Spanish and is a huge benefit for my boys. It is amazingly affordable, and Cuernavaca is a great city. There are probably a hundred language schools there, but we have had great experience with Chac-mool Institute. We are leaving in just three weeks to spend a month there this summer…(in fact, maybe I should be spending more time getting us organized for the trip instead of surfing my favorite bilingual websites!)

I commend Jasmine for being so proactive in thinking about how they will introduce Spanish and English to their child before the child is even born.

I can’t tell you how many people still say to me, “Oh no. I want my baby to learn her English before I start any new language.” They just don’t get it, and sometimes I feel like it’s about educating the parents first, then the children!

I will tell you that a dear friend of mine, who allowed me to hold those bilingual playgroups that so many moms search for in her dance studio years ago, was asked by the teachers who in her family is Spanish because her son could not be placed in the Kindergarten Spanish class as his new Montessori school.

Neither she, nor her husband nor any relatives speak Spanish beyond the basic greetings. They were able to give the gift of Spanish as a second language through the playgroup classes and regular interaction with the new language via bilingual CDs.

You can do it, and it can be a fun part of every day, but the key is daily interaction with both English and Spanish. Make it a fun second language journey for all three of you (you will find you learn along with your child!)

WOW !!! I appreciate all the education and feedback ! I ve learned so much through this dialogue. I am taking everything in and will definitely purchase some CDs to start with. I am gathering that it is extremely important that I learn the Spanish language just as well as my baby.

Jasmine, I also live in Alabama, and am trying to locate resources to expose my newborn to Spanish. If you find any information, could you please pass it along? I am desperate for resources. Thank you.

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Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies at California State University in Los Angeles. She is the department’s expert in early multilingual development and has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Southern California. Simona is Italian and she’s also a mommy to trilingual daughters aged 3 and 4 1/2. In addition, she conducts a workshop titled: “How to Raise a Bilingual Child” in the LA area.